Pygmalion1.0048a

Étienne-Maurice Falconet, 1716-1791, "Pygmalion and Galatea" ("Pygmalion at the Feet of His Statue", marble statuette, 1763, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, no. 27.387

A. Blühm (2002), “Vom Leben zum Bild — Vom Bild zum Leben: Pygmalion im Streit der Künstler,” in Wettstreit der Künste: Malerei und Skulptur von Dürer bis Daumier, ed. by E. Mai and K. Wettengl (Köln: Minerva), 142-55. — Raoux's is a clear articulation of the Paragone dispute: painting's superiority over sculpture.
Blühm also adduces Falconet bis, and Gérome bis, to the discussion.

— 0957.01Pygmalion_Raoux
— 0957.26aPygmalion_Falconet
— 0957.26bPygmalion_Falconet
— 0960.28aPygmalion_Gérome
— 0960.28dPygmalion_Gérome

"An implicit contest with the powers of the legendary Pygmalion enlivens the numerous paintings (and some sculptures) of P. and his statue (particularly frequent in 18th-century France), in which the artist tests his own ability to persuade the viewer of the reality and desirability of a work of art at two removes from life. An artistic narcissism is pronounced in the works of Gérome, whose serial paintings of the subject are also illustrations of his own sculpture.... Gérome was a noted exponent of a 19th-century craze for sculptural polychromy, creating uncannily lifelike works." — P.R.Hardie in Grafton & Most The Classical Tradition, s.v. "Pygmalion".